A Classification of the Varieties of Cultivated Oats 119 
There are but few cases reported in which 
members of the Gramineae have been found 
to lack this character. The writer has 
observed it to be wanting in Echinochloa 
crusgalli 'var. muticum, E. Walteri, and 
E. frumentacea. Emerson (1912) discovered 
a type of dent corn (Zea mays indentata) 
which lacked not only the ligule but also 
the auricle. He found that the progeny of 
self-pollinated plants of this type inherited 
with certainty the non-ligulate and non-auric- 
ulate character of the parent, and that in 
crosses with normal plants the peculiar char- 
acter segregated as a recessive one in hybrids 
of the second generation. From a description 
and illustration by Collins (1909) it would 
appear also that in plants of a certain type cf 
Zea mays from China the ligule and the 
auricle were absent, or at least rudimentary. 
Nilsson-Ehle (1909) reported the absence of 
the ligule in the variety Jaime Geant a 
Grappes of A. sativa orientalis, and he, like 
Emerson, found the character to be strictly 
inheritable and to act as a recessive one in 
the second-generation hybrids. In the same 
species, Schneider (1912) noted the non-ligu- 
late character of the varieties Golden Giant 
and Giant Banner, although he made no 
studies of its transmission. 
In the present studies the absence of the 
ligule and the auricle has been observed only 
in certain varieties of A. sativa orientalis, two 
of which correspond to the varieties reported 
by Nilsson-Ehle and by Schneider. In all 
these varieties the leaf is approximately con- 
tinuous in structure with the sheath and its 
characteristic form may easily be recognized. 
Unlike the ordinary leaf, it does not bend 
away from the stem at its junction with the 
Fig. 18. an abnormal non-ligu- 
late AND NON-AURICULATE 
. LEAF 
A, Showing how the leaf lies close to 
the stem for most of its length; B, sec- 
tion of the leaf and sheath, showing on 
the inner side the non-ligulate character 
